Like the Indy films-and like " Silverado," which had a Spielbergian sensibility even though Spielberg didn't direct it-this "Ranger" is an overproduced cliffhanger, and it's very 20th century in its methods. There were points when the picture reminded me of the first three Indiana Jones films, and not just because the climax involves runaway trains on parallel tracks and the bad guy removes a man's heart from his chest (an atrocity reflected and abstracted in a witness's eyeball). "Finally, someone who'll listen to reason!") ("The United States Army!" Reid exclaims at one point. The filmmakers grapple with it amusingly, and throw in large-scale action, broad slapstick, and black-comedy banter while they're at it. (Intriguingly, there's evidence that the real-life basis for the Ranger was a black man.) How do you adapt the Ranger for multicultural, post-9/11, post-financial-meltdown America? That's the question.
The character tried to migrate from the 1950s small screen to theaters in 1981 and failed, not just because the movie was weak, but because seven years after Watergate and six years after the fall of Saigon, the notion of a poor person of color devoting himself to a middle-class white male savior didn't make sense anymore, if indeed it ever did. Granted, this has been the Western's default worldview since the seventies, but it's still startling to see it applied to "The Lone Ranger." This myth is innately square, attuned to received wisdom about who runs the country and why it's okay. The film portrays its setting as a PG-13 version of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood's every-man-for-himself hellscape. Like the railroad baron ( Tom Wilkinson) that he secretly serves, Butch expresses the will of the majority, even though the kindlier members of the majority hate to think of themselves in such unflattering terms. Butch may be a leering, scar-faced sadist who eats human flesh - Tonto refers to him as "wendigo", says he's driven "life out of balance" a la the " Koyaanisqatsi" poster's catchphrase, and carries a silver bullet to put him down - but in time we see that the outlaw is an expression of the American id. Reid meets Tonto shackled on a train with the repulsive outlaw Butch Cavendish ( William Fichtner), who escapes, links up with his old outlaw gang, and wreaks havoc on Reid, Tonto and the territory - but not in a vacuum.
The Ranger, whose birth name is John Reid, has gone west to join his Texas Ranger brother ( James Badge Dale, who's in every other blockbuster these days). He's a wandering spirit on his own mission of justice, disillusioned and driven mad by pain he endured decades ago. Considering advertising and other costs that come after the production, that is generally considered a box office flop, as well as a perfect reminder that a high production cost will often eat into a potential blockbuster's bottom line.This time out, Tonto doesn't live to serve the Masked Man. The Lone Ranger cost a whopping $215 million for Disney to make, and it just grossed $260 million worldwide during its theatrical run. It makes it easy to see how movies sometimes lose money even when they make a decent amount at the box office.ĭuring his THR roundtable with other industry heavy-hitters, Armie Hammer did not provide the exact price range to keep a world champion of yo-yo on retainer for a big budget Hollywood movie, but we do know that it only adds to an already staggering figure. It likely didn't seem like a big deal at the time of production, mainly when explosions and massive set pieces were eating up the budget much more quickly, but the guy did one quick task and was signed on for the duration of the entire production. So even though Tom Wilkinson picked up the trick pretty quickly, the folks at Disney had signed him on and had to keep paying to keep the yo-yo champion around for the duration of the shoot. And he is like, 'Yeah, just like that.' And then he was with us for the rest of the movie. So because they had a borderline unlimited budget, they're like, 'Let's bring in the yo-yo world champion.' He was like, 'That's not a yo-yo.' And they go, 'Yeah, but can you help him do it?' And he goes, 'Yeah, you pull it out of your pocket and you do that.' Tom goes, 'Like this?' Click.
We were shooting Lone Ranger, and Tom Wilkinson had to do a thing where he pulls out a pocket watch and flips it, and it opens on his hand.